FOOL-ERRANT

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 June 1930, Page 10

FOOL-ERRANT

“Star” Serial

(By

Patricia Wentworth)

Mr Smith’s Instructions (Continqed). "She lives at Torring House—sjie is, in fact, next-door neighbour. I believe they were once great friends. I am told they are not on speaking terms liqw. J do not always believe everything that I am told.” ewho is she?” paid HugQ l frowpigg. He hoped that the frown wpuld convey a complptp lack of any except a business interest ip Mrpe. de para. “Oh, a very charging lady. The sort of lady ’ wjip has had a ’ foreign husband—no ope has evpj met her husband, but he always has a pleasantly romantic naipe.” "Yes,” continued Mr, Smith. “Mme. de Lara is certainly very attractive. Have you memorised that a,ddreps and the telephone number? Recause, if so, we’ll put it jn the f|re.” “Now, one thing more —if I want to see you, you wjll-rece‘jvq a gushing little note from a lady, called Daisy, with whom you arc PU very infinite terms.. You needn’t take any notice of what’s in the note—it will foe all—er —eyewash. But a nujnber will he mentioned ip some way.

“Let me illustrate. . if Daisy says, ‘I never saw three pows to-dgy,’ you will go to the cross-roads outside Ledlington at three o’clock on the day yon get the letter. If the three is spelt out it means P.M. —if it’s a numeral it means A.M. If she says, ‘I hope to meet two friends of yours to-morrow,’ then you go to the crossroads at two p.m. on the day after you get the letter. Now, repeat all that, and let’s see if you’ve got it

right.” Hugo repeated it very accurately. “In an extreme case Daisy mjght telephone, using the same formula. Nohting else she said would be of any importance. I think that’s all. I can’t give you apy advice, you kppw. It would probably be very dangerous for you to go Mine, de Lara’s house: but, on the other hand it might be very advantageous “The only bit of advice I can give is, Don’t tgll- in love wifh her. ft would be agreeable, but I’m afraid it would be a handicap.”

Hugo could not think of anything tp say. He blushed, and said, “Thank you, sir.” Ananias ros}e upon his toes, flapped his wings, and said, “Awk!” “That’s all,” said Mr. Smith thoughtfully—‘except as regards funds. The question is, How hard up are you 7” “Not very.”

“What does that mean. You pawned some things for five pounds a fortnight ago. How much have you got left?”

“About a jjQunfl, gir.” not enough. On the other hand, apy. considerable, sum might be an embarrassment to you. I think” — he paused tq consider—“l think you may reasonably be supposed to have a friend whom you have touched for a fiver.”

He took live extremely crumpled notes oiit of A very battered pocketbook.

“You needn’t say thank you—it’s not a. personal matter.” To Hugo’s surprise he found himself shaking hands. “Good luck, Hugo,” said Mr. Smith. Then over his shoulder, “Wish him good, luck Ananias.” Ananias lifted his wings, and displayed their rose-coloured lining. “Vaya cop Dios,” he observed, a trifle morosely.

Hugo returned to his lodgings, and was met by Mrs. Miles in a state of agjtated dignity. “If you’d come this way, Mr. Ross, if it’s not troubling you too much, there’s a matter I’d like for to speak about.” Site led the way into her sittingroom and shut the door. It was a dingy room, with a large round mahogany table in the middle of it, and a suite covered in green plush ranged round the walls. One of the green chairs was drawn up to the table. Ella Miles sat on the edge of it, looking the picture of misery. Her eyes were red, and so was the tip of her little sharp nose; she held a sodden green handkerchief in one hand, and sniffed into i|. - “Well yQjj p.?y!” said Mrs. Miles, addressing h§r. “Wel| yap may, Ella, my girl! And- ypu- that wrote ‘Least said, soonest rpp'nded’ in your copybook times and times under by very own blessed eyes.”

Ella. -sniffed,. siucl gazed, at Hugo. She was a little sHp'jjf.a-tljliig, small-featured antj pale, - She- looked younger than hey. yeai’s-.' “Look at. her!” said Mrs. Miles. “Look at her, . Mr, there and sniffing, instead of holding her longue when'she hadn't no call to talk.” “What's the m-m-matfer?” “That’s what I asked you ill here to tell. You hadn’t been- gone -morethan half an hour when z\ gentleman comes to the door apd asks for you.” Mr. Ross, didn't, he?” ' She turned.on Blip. “He ps.Kc4 for “Yes, h’aijnt.” ~„ “And whjiL calldmd you to say anything more tpan that Mr. Ros§ was out? 1 ;isk you that, Elja Mjl&s!” Hila sniffed, • .’ “A hud end is what yen'll come to —same its aijy girl’ll come-to. as" stands gossiping on doorsteps.’’- , . . “ ’Twpgn’t the doorstep,” said Ella with a gasp. .■■-■■ “Passages is worse,” said Mrs, i

Miles. “And gossip is what s brought man- a girl to her ruin—as I hope and trust vou won’t find out.” She turned to Hugo- “Hacker was the name.” “Hacker!” “Said he’d take a chance of finding jouf seeing as how you’d mentioned where you’d been living afore. Ancf then asks it lie can wiite a note, and h* v. iites ft. And Ella, she stands there tii-gossiping while he done it. “Ob, h’aunt!” “Dcn’i. you go answering me, Ellq Miles! Well, Mr. Ross, 1 come down the stairs, and I heard him say as bold as brass, ‘And is the foreign gentleman a friend of yours?’ And Ella, she giggles, apd says, ‘I don’t know, I’m sure* And iihar I vant co know is.how I kep’ myself from going in ami giving her what for—only I thought I’d get to the bottom of her gpipgs ; gn, so I waited. And that there HupKcr asks her if she ever heard you a’tplking to the foreigner,. and she ups .'mid says she heard him' offering to buy something oil you this iporm lug, and she ups and says she wonder, ed you didn’t sgy ‘Yes’ straight away heegusfj you was pore enough, and that there Miller seemed to want whatever it wap pretty bad- And with that I comes ill, ami I. gives her a look.”'

“Oh, h’aunt.” “And I says to that there Hacker, ‘Good mprning, sir,’ and he ijp and went,, and I told Elia what I thought of her—and here’s your note, Mr. Ross.

Huq tore it. open. It was quite short. “Dear Ross, —We are staying another day, so don’t hurry back if it doesn’t suit you. I was passing, and tjcmk a chance of finding you.— Yours, cJ.. Hacker.” He turned back to Ella. “I s : say, Ella, d’you mind telling me how you and Hacker came to be talking abqut Miller?” “And mind yqu answer truthful, Ella, _ipy girl,” said Mrs. Miles. “Mr. Miller come down the stairs,” she said in an injured voice.. “It wasn’t my fault he come dqwn the stairs, and it wasn’t my fault if My. Hacker asked me who he was, and I didn’t see no harm ill saying he was a foreign gentleman, And then Mr. Hacker asked me was you. apd him friends, and I. didn’t see no harm ip what I said. I only wish somebody would say they didn’t' mind. .wljat they paid for soniething as belonged to me.” .. . ! .. . V-‘ .. .. “Listen to'her!” said Mrs. Miles. Hugo went upstairs and pppsjderpd. Hacker wanted him to stay ill to.wp—he wouldn’t have taken the tyqgble to come roupd if he hadn’t wanted him to stay. At the first glance, then, it would be better not to stgy. Hacker probably wanted to compromise him with filler-. Already Ella would be able to say thgt she had heard Miller offer him money.

Hugo considered. The mjschiqf was already dope, As he read the sitpation, it was no' good running away; Up had to riih into danger as the only possible road to safety, and the one thing that he must not do was to show that lip suspected anytihpg. The slightest sign of awarepess, and his one asset wp'ht by the board. They thought him a mug, and they must, without fail, go on thinking him a mug, it was his one chanc e of bringing anything off. He began to think about Lqveday. He really had been a mug not to follow Cissie. He wanted to see Lqveday very badly; he wanted to hear what she had to tell him; apd he wanted to tell her she mustn’t stay with Gissie, and —well, he’just waiitecj to see her. A STROKE OF LUCK. Hu ;o had a stroke of luck that evening, unlocked for and quite undeserved. He was walking along a little street in Soho, when he spyv Cissip. She was in a taxi, leaning forward and calling out of the window’ to the drive . He recognised her at once. Th > taxi won’t op and turned the corn' ••, and Huge ran after it. He turnc .1 the corner, too, and there was the taxi drawn up at tlie kerb in front of a sipall restaurant. Miss Cis•sie w is half-way across the paveinept. She wps bpre-Ueaded, and wore a thick dark coat with a fur collar. She disappeared into the restaurant, and

- « Hugo followed her. He found hey sittir.-; at a little table in an alcove. Tho room was very hot and full of the [hosts of dead meals. Cissie had slipped off her coat, and sat there in a very short, thin dress of a shade of petunia. A spotted mirror in a gilt frame behind her showed the sot of her head with its carefully wave I hair. She was made up to a. startling pallor, and the lashes that •surrounded her bright blue eyes had been heavily darkened. She gave a jump when she saw Hugo, and said “Oh!” with a sort of gasp. Hugo had wondered what he was going to say. hut, to his surprise found it quite easy. “I s-sa.y, this is ripping! I saw you get out of your taxi, Miss Leigh.” “You didn’t!” She had hold of the la.ble edge, and her breath came quickly. “I d-did —really. I s-say, this is ripning—isn’t it?” Cissie was recovering her self-pos-session.

“You quite frightened me.” “D-did I?” “Yes, you did.” “I s-say, won’t you dine with me?” Cissie looked at him sideways. “Did you think I came here by myself? .Really, Mr. Hugo, I’m sure I don’t know what you must think of me! No. indeed —I’m meeting a friend and I shall have to be dreadfully angry with him for being- so lute —and you mustn’t stay talking to me, because he’s so jealous, and if there- is an awkward thing, it’s a man beingjealous of you in a restaurant.” She pronounced the “t” at the end of this word.

Hugo wondered if the friend was Hacker. '

“You must go—really, Mr. Hugp.” “But when am I going to s-see you again?” “Oh, 1 don’t know, Do yoq really want to sec ma?”. Hugo got a very arch glance indeed. “Of course I do.” . .

IL was at this point tliat.Gissie remembered that she ought tp. have a bad l-old. She had been speaking in her natural voice, rather high-pitch-ed, rather bright; and then suddenly she remembered about the cold arid began to cough. Hugo wanted to laugh so badly, that, like Mrs. Miles, he didn’t know how he “kep’ ” himself. . ' ”. ‘ “This horrible cold!” said Cissie. “Oh, Mr. Hugo, you really mustn’t stay. You don’t know what my friend’s like —you wouldn’t believe anyone could be so jealous. Hugo had not the slightest depirq to meet Hacker. He wondered whether Cissie would tell Hackei- that she Jiad met him. He only wanted ope thing, and he wanted it very badly—he wanted Cissie’s address.

(io be Continued).